With kids going back to schools and PG-13 fueled summer movies now in the rearview mirror, this is a time when studios generally release their R-rated, more mature content.

A good way to describe Ready or Not is – ‘Get Out’ meets ‘Hide and Seek’ meets ‘Game Night.’ After just getting married to Alex, one of the sons of the very affluent family, Grace learns that Alex’s big family have a very weird tradition – playing a board-game the night of the wedding. At first, Grace playfully goes along with it, till she learns of the sinister and nefarious intent of her in-laws. Apparently, the great-grandfather’s avarice for riches and fame led him to make a Faustian deal and now, the family believes that if they don’t kill the bride, they’ll die.

Before I go further in detail on my review, I want to point something out. Ready or Not is one of Fox Searchlight’s final movies and if you want more (original) movies like this, please go watch it. Disney, the new owner of Fox, is considering dismantling Fox Searchlight and all the Fox projects and plan on continuing their efforts on reboots/remakes/sequels (ie. The Lion King).

Positives

Samara Weaving absolutely steals all the scenes she’s in and it’s abundantly evident that she’s having a blast playing this character. Right off the bat, we learn that she’s lived in a foster home for her whole life and she really wants to please her fastidious in-laws. Her desire to have a family is all but enough for us to root for her.

Aside from the protagonist, the other most complex character is her brother-in-law. He’s actually conflicted about killing Grace, which definitely helps make him (a bit more) sympathetic than the other family members.

This movie is fairly well-shot, with a solid amount of laughs and gore. As a satire, it (mostly) works. The movie explores the lengths the rich will go to keep their excess wealth, which is one of the contention points among the Democratic party. In one of the film’s memorable scenes, Grace’s cocaine-addicted sister-in-law accidentally shoots a maid, to which some of the family members reply, “She was my favorite.” This indifference and the perceived lack of value in human life is definitely something the film excels at exploring.

Negatives

From the trailers, one might be forgiven for assuming that the movie ends up being a revenge flick, with Grace hunting down the rich. Unfortunately, there simply isn’t as much revenge (no, I am not bloodthirsty) and the formula wears off pretty quick. What I mean by that is, there is a repetitive story beat – Grace is “found” and she has to escape. That is played ad nauseum. Despite a short runtime (1:34), some sequences are unnecessarily long and add to a boring feeling. This is also an extremely predictable film, which is too bad considering it easily could have subverted our expectations in the final act.

Some of the performances are extremely campy and the relationship drama between Alex and his mom is contrived and simply exists to move the plot forward.

Rating – Mild Recommendation

Overall, Ready or Not is (mostly) an enjoyable flick, with a terrific lead. While the gore might be enough to turn some viewers away, I contend it was necessary for the movie’s ultimate message “F*cking rich people!”